Queens Park Rangers were not the only club to travel to Dubai recently for warm-weather training and a spot of R&R, but Sunderland succeeded in avoiding corrosive headlines about “booze benders” and unofficial stag parties. Yet as the two sides meet at Loftus Road today, Martin O’Neill has reiterated his arguments in favour of a mid-season break and the team-building benefits of responsible socialising.

O’Neill has no knowledge of what QPR’s players may or may not have done during their week away in the United Arab Emirates — “We trained every single day ourselves, that was a given,” the Sunderland manager